


Mark Both My Fists With Little X's (That Mean I am Extra Unsafe)

by VeteranKlaus



Series: Neon Gravestones Try To Call (For My Bones) [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Diego and Ben are good brothers, Drug Use, Flashbacks, Literally just an excuse to write some solid brotherly bullshit, PTSD, The siblings are trying, Trust Issues, instability, they're kinda dumb tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-12 08:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18442802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeteranKlaus/pseuds/VeteranKlaus
Summary: They're all determined to help Klaus with his new-found powers, sure, but Diego thinks some of them are more determined than others. While dealing with the consequences of Five's time jump, Diego takes the responsibility of Klaus' healing on his shoulders. Subsequently, Five tags along. They can't see him, but Ben's there as well.SEQUEL to 'Is It Your Heart That Breaks First or Fragile Bones?'Must read that first! It won't make sense otherwise!





	Mark Both My Fists With Little X's (That Mean I am Extra Unsafe)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the sequel is confirmed, and it is here! I got blown away by the support from the first fic, and I have decided to make a sequel! I hope you enjoy it!

"Get up. Come on, Diego. Get up." 

Something nudges his side painfully. His entire body feels like it's been stuffed into a blender. 

"Go 'way," Diego groans. He tries to turn around in his bed only to realise - why the _fuck_ is Luther in his bedroom? And then, immediately after - he's not even in his bedroom. He's on a hard floor. His eyebrows knit together and Diego props himself up on his elbows, taking a minute to pry his tired eyes open.

Luther, sure enough, is crouching in front of Diego, one hand on his back. He looks as tired as Diego feels. He looks... _holy_ _shit_. He raises his eyebrows at Diego.

"Good, you're awake. Five and Klaus are still unconscious," he tells him, and Diego's sluggish mind takes several moments to catch up. 

_Oh._

He remembers, now. He can remember the whole  _incident_ in the park, the way hordes of ghosts had just melted into Klaus and before Diego finally collapsed he had heard Five do something. Diego puts two and two together and realises he must have transported them back in time. Speaking of Five, he was splayed out in the middle of them all, chest rising and falling heavily. Diego reached out to nudge his leg and hiss his name but he seemed dead to the world. 

Allison was sitting up against the couch, head in her hands, and Vanya had managed to haul herself onto the couch to sit. Or maybe she'd gotten lucky and crash landed onto it. Ben was completely gone. Klaus was on the floor, long limbs pulled close to himself. There were no traces of blood on him anymore though his eyes looked sunken into his skull, lined by dark circles. He looked so pale Diego was tempted to reach out and try and search for his pulse, but he could see the rise and fall of his chest and the way his eyes darted around beneath his eyelids.

"What the fuck?" Diego breathes, and he looks down at his hands. 

Vanya snorts. 

"Looks like Five still has some training to do," Luther comments jokingly, and Diego raises his eyebrows.

"No shit," he says. 

Diego moves on from it. There's not much they can do about it.

"Is - is everyone alright?" He asks, eyes roaming over everyone. They all look okay. Exhausted, definitely, but otherwise they look well. _Alive_. Like their skin isn't seventy years old and stretched taught over their brittle bones. Their organs aren't failing and their skeletons aren't deteriorating. Which is, as one may consider, a _bonus_. 

What they do look like, however, is  _young._ He can't say when - he still has the scar along the side of his head, so he's older than seventeen, at least, but it feels almost fresh. More prominent and new than it had been a couple of hours ago - or, in this case, a few years into the future.

Luther isn't the big muscle man that he was, either. His hair was a brighter blonde like it had been when they were younger, but not as bright as it once had been. Because of the change in stature his clothes drown him. Five, physically, hasn't changed; still thirteen years old. Vanya's clothes fit her all the same - she'd always been short as a kid, and that had never changed as she aged. Diego's own clothes were slightly loose, a little too long, but fit him well enough. Klaus - well, maybe it wasn't so unfortunate if his clothes were a little loose, leather trousers not as skin-tight. 

"No one's hurt," Luther replies, sitting back.

"We've not checked what year it is yet," Vanya pipes up. Her voice is slightly hoarse and quiet and she holds a hand over her chest as she coughs.

"I don't even want to know," Diego mutters, shaking his head. 

They fall into silence. It's dark outside, raining, and none of them know what to say. The only sound is Five and Klaus' heavy breathing. Diego notices that Allison looks somewhat guilty.  _Good,_ he thinks. So she should.

"Should we... should we move them?" He muses, looking over their brothers hesitantly. It doesn't seem like they'll be waking up within the next few minutes, after all.

Luther clears his throat. "Probably," he says, and he heaves himself to his feet. He looks back at Diego. "You get Five?" He asks, and Diego tips his head in a quick nod, heading towards the smaller of the two of them. It's easy to pull him into a bridal-style carry when he's like this, all lanky and thin and thirteen years old, and Luther makes it look just as easy to lift all six feet of Klaus. Allison and Vanya have hurried to their feet, eagerly following by them. 

They make it out into the hallway when Diego stops, making Luther walk right into his back and subsequently jostling Klaus. He only lets out a quiet moan in response.

"What is it?" Luther hisses into his ear, and Diego turns to look over his shoulder. 

" _Dad_ ," he replies, jaw clenching. "He's alive now."

All siblings exchange a look of dread. Luther looks faintly excited for a moment before also realising the situation that then puts them in and his shoulders slump.

"Lets just - lets take them to their rooms. We'll try and wake them up and come up with something together," Luther says, and his head lifts an inch like it does when he's confident in something.

It's the best they've got, however, so Diego keeps his mouth shut and they begin their ascend of the stairs to reach their bedrooms, albeit much quieter than when they had started.

Diego slides into Five's room and gently lowers his brother into his bedroom. He hesitates in the doorway but eventually he steps out and heads into Klaus' room, full of their siblings. Allison is lingering on the outskirts and Diego raises an eyebrow at her. 

"Do you want to sit with Five?" He asks. "We don't know when he's going to wake up and..." he trails off, not needing to finish his sentence anyway because his sister nods and scurries out. Luther has set Klaus out on his bed and turned on all the lamps on his bedside table. 

"We need to talk this out," Luther says. "We need them all here."

"Well, it's four in the morning, Luther, and dad wakes up at seven, and he's going to wake up to his missing son suddenly back, still thirteen, and all of his other children that have probably left the academy by now. We can't - Luther, we can't be here right now," he says, and they all share a look. Luther presses his lips together. 

"Vanya, think you can go find out the date?" He requests, and the brunette nods hesitantly before she quietly slips out of Klaus' bedroom, leaving Luther and Diego to stand there awkwardly. Diego still feels like shit and he'd love nothing more than to curl up in his own bed and sleep for ages. Unfortunately, he knows that is not a possibility at the moment. 

"We can't just leave," Luther speaks up.

"Can't we?" Diego responds, folding his arms across his chest. "We've already done it."

"Look at him," Luther nods his head to Klaus, "does he look like he's going to be alright to move around a lot?"

Diego snorts, shaking his head. "Don't use Klaus like that," he hisses, taking a step closer. "You think it'd be better for him to _stay_ here?" He asks, a doubtful expression on his face. He shook his head and stepped to his brothers bedside, his stomach twisting with a mix of emotions that he didn't want to face.

Luther doesn't say anything, stepping back to lean against the wall instead and keeping his eyes away from both Klaus and Diego.

Diego knows that staying here is possibly the worst idea they could follow through, for both Five and Klaus. But depending what year it is then Diego doesn't think starting off their recovery process with running away and sleeping in old motels. And then there was the whole Five situation - he can imagine that, honestly, Reginald would probably not make a big deal out of it. If anything he'd probably just grill Five for all the information of where - or when - he'd been, and then start up his training once more. 

"If we confront dad," Luther begins once more, "then maybe he can help with Klaus' training, too. We can't train him ourselves, Diego, but dad has and he still can."

Diego doesn't look at him. "Are you forgetting," he asks quietly, "that it's because of Klaus' training that dad did what he did. Do you think he's going to be happy with us finding out about Klaus? After the lengths he went to just to make sure we wouldn't know. He kept it on until he _died_ , Luther. He isn't going to help us now." 

He can feel Luther's eyes burning into him, almost challenging, but for once Diego wasn't going to entertain him like that. He kept his gaze on Klaus' unmoving form in his bed and he didn't say anything. 

He hears footsteps hurriedly approaching the door and he looked up to see Vanya shuffling in quietly.

"Well?" Luther asked, standing up.

"It's two-thousand and eight, May," she told them. "We're eighteen."

Diego took a slow breath in. Diego had been the first to leave in August. Klaus had been the second, leaving a few months after they turned nineteen. Vanya had been the third, and then Allison. Luther had never left.

"Perfect!" Diego exclaims. "I'm due to leave around now, anyway." 

"Diego, don't do this," Luther says, quiet, though it wasn't a gentle request. A command. 

Diego turns around and looks at him, a challenge in his eyes. "I'm going to wait here for everyone else to come down," he announces, "and we're gonna talk this out before Reginald wakes up."

As much as he wants to simply grab his shit and leave, bringing Klaus with him, and not look back, he knows that now isn't a time for impulse. If he can't do it for himself, then he can do it for the Klaus that had cowered on the floor, afraid of himself. 

And so Diego sits back down on the edge of Klaus bed, and he and Luther fall back into tense silence. Occasionally Klaus twitches or whines in his sleeping-unconscious state, but he doesn't seem to be waking up. Vanya doesn't say much, either, and it's awkward.

So when the door _does_ nudge open, everyone jumps, excuses on their lips if it's Reginald. But instead Allison walks in with Five, who looks utterly tired and defeated. Allison closes the door behind them quietly and they all sit back down. 

"So," Five begins. His voice is hoarse. "It didn't exactly work," he states, and Diego snorts.

"Were you trying to send us this far back?" Luther asks, and Five shakes his head.

"I was just trying to send us _back_ in general. A couple days maybe. Not this far. Now we're stuck with fucking _dad_ ," he says scornfully, lips in a twisted sneer. 

"What's important is that you _did_ manage to send us back," Luther says, and everyone gives Five a reassuring nod. It's obvious he's frustrated at himself.

"It's good except for the fact I'm not supposed to be here," he snaps. "You all look seventeen or something. News flash; I was still not here yet. Once Reginald sees me here, we're _fucked_. Fucked."

" _Five_ , calm down," Vanya hushes gently, "we just need to figure this out. But it's good that you did send us all back."

Five stares at his sister for several moments before sighing and slumping against the wall, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "Whatever," he mutters tensely.

"I think we should confront dad," Luther states, sitting up a bit taller. "If we just speak to him then he'll explain why he did it and he'll understand that he should help Klaus."

Diego snorts violently. "We know why he did it, Luther," he bites. "He did it because Klaus was too strong and he got scared. If we talk to him about this he's just going to get mad that we somehow found out and then he'll send us away on some private mission for months."

Luther's nostrils flare but he bites back whatever he was going to say. 

"At least if we stay here we know Klaus is in a place that can... handle him," Allison speaks up, and Diego turns on her.

"Don't _you_ start," he hisses, "if you had just said no, then we wouldn't be in this fucking mess in the first place." 

Allison glares coldly at him with teary eyes and red cheeks, and Diego does feel a little bad. Then he looks at Klaus again and he doesn't.

"It's not her fault!" Luther snaps, standing up abruptly. Diego stands, too, hands immediately flying to one of the knives strapped to him. Vanya jumps to her feet while Five and Allison do nothing, and the brunette scurries quickly between her brother, placing one hand on each of their chests. 

"Stop it!" She cries out, eyes flicking between the two of them. Diego is grateful for the fact that Klaus' bedroom is soundproof, for once.

Diego takes a reluctant step back, slowly sliding his knife back into it's sheath before raising his empty hands. He keeps his hard gaze on Luther for several long moments before he sits back down. 

"You _know_ we can't keep Klaus here," he says after a moment. "And Five has a point - he can't stay here, either. We can't confront dad about it."

"It'll mess with the timeline," Five pipes up, "way too much. I couldn't stay here even if I wanted to, Luther."

Diego points at him, tipping his head. "Exactly," he says, as if that just proved his point. 

"You can't just - just leave, either," Luther stammers, and Diego raises his eyebrows.

"Can't I?" He retorts, cocking his head to the side. 

"You're fucking up the timeline, too," Five says. 

"Well, maybe it's for the better," he snaps. 

Their eyes turn, then, to their twitching brother on the bed. Even unconscious he looks distressed; his face pinched, knees drawn up, twitching, huffing out shallow breaths. 

Diego stands firm in his decision. He's ready to leave anyway, knows where his money is stashed in his bedroom. He'll just have to live with a little less than he would have if he had stayed for those extra few months. By the looks of it, Five's powers are currently out of the question - he had walked here with Allison, after all.

Everyone looks tired, though. Bags under their eyes and a weariness to them that Diego understands; he feels utterly exhausted, an itch in his bones, a headache pounding against his skull. He'd love nothing more than to go to bed. 

Luther stands up, seeming to share his thoughts. "Still," he says, "I think we should wait. A couple weeks. Allison and I... we used to have a den in the attic, and dad doesn't go there. Five can stay there so dad doesn't find him. But right now we all need to rest and collect ourselves."

Unsurprisingly, Allison agrees with Luther, following him out of Klaus' bedroom too-eagerly. Vanya stands up with a sigh, resting a hand on Diego's shoulder.

"We all want the best for Klaus, but I don't think some rest would be a bad idea for you right now," she says softly, and then she walks past him and to her own bedroom, leaving Five and Diego in Klaus' bedroom.

Diego glances down to Five. He's not made a move to get up.

"Think about this, Diego," he says, low and warning. 

Diego looks at Klaus and sighs. 

"I have."

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this first part, feel free to leave a kudos or a comment! Thank you!


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